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Tuesday, Jun 12, 2018 03:42 PM

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Notes and observations from minicamp practice (6/12)

John Schmeelk

Giants.com

As Pat Shurmur said at his post-practice press conference, this might as well be OTA #11. The rules are the same and the guys are basically doing the same stuff. The only difference is that it is mandatory and the practices (at least on Tuesday and Wednesday) this week might be on the longer side. Here’s what I saw from the sideline.

Odell Beckham Jr. went through individual drills. He looked spry and will build himself up to where he can participate more fully in training camp come August.

Overall, it was a back and forth day between the offense and defense with plays made on both sides of the ball. The offense got off to a quick start during half-field drills, getting the ball down the field a couple of times. Really nice play by Marquis Bundy on an underthrown Kyle Lauletta pass that he located in the air, slowed down to get underneath, and then high pointed between two defenders.

Eli Apple has played pretty well for most of the spring, but he had a few rough moments at practice today. Alonzo Russell and Amba Etta-Tawo beat him a few times, including a couple down the field over the top and to the sideline. Evan Engram caught a fade on his side of the field as well. Apple also had a couple of good battles with Cody Latimer later in practice, knocking one ball away over the middle.

Great jumping grab by Cody Latimer on an Eli Manning pass during red zone drills, elevating over Janoris Jenkins and Curtis Riley in the corner of the end zone and barely getting two feet in.

Pat Shurmur did some one-on-one coaching of Russell Shepard early in practice. After a play ended, he ran over and coached up Shepard immediately before he even got to the sideline.

Nice deflection by Mark Herzlich on a Davis Webb pass to Jerell Adams on a short out route. Herzlich got his hand on the ball. Webb tried to force the ball into a dangerous area where there just wasn’t a ton of space.

After a Will Hernandez false start to start the Blitz Period, Shurmur stopped the action and made the offense re-huddle and start over from scratch. Many times, they will throw the flag but let the play continue. Shurmur wanted to send a message there.

Nice double move by Roger Lewis to break free of Michael Thomas on the sideline, but the pass was overthrown by Davis Webb. Later in practice, Webb put a nice ball on Kalif Raymond down the seam, fitting it in right before the safety arrived.

Aldrick Rosas was 8 of 8 on field goals today, including one from 52 yards and another from 56 yards away.

Not sure how much to make of it but during kick return drills, the players handling the ball were Hunter Sharp, Saquon Barkley, Kalif Raymond, Cody Latimer, Travis Rudolph, Wayne Gallman and Donte Deayon.

Saquon Barkely found himself behind the defense again on the sideline. He was being covered by B.J. Goodson, who couldn’t stay with the faster Barkley as he navigated through traffic on what looked like a wheel route.

During the third down period, the defense had consecutive plays where the quarterback had to hold the ball a long time before dumping it off. There was excellent coverage down the field.

The final play of practice is always a specific situation as devised by someone who will remain nameless that works with the coaches. Today, it was a two-point conversion attempt. The defense won all three battles with Curtis Riley, Orion Stewart and Thurston Armbrister all getting their hands on passes.

The Amazing Jeff Feagles: I watched punting practice with Jeff Feagles, where he was timing put hangtimes with a stopwatch. Just for fun, he would guess the hang time based simply on visuals before looking at the watch and we discovered an untapped skill. Feagles eye ball time was never more than a tenth of a second different than the stop watch. He hit one exactly right and got another one within a HUNDRETH of a second. I’m going to rent out a booth for him at the New Jersey State Fair.